


i saw goro akechi at walmart and he looked like shit

by owlwyngwastaken



Category: Persona 5
Genre: (ryuji voice) actually FUCK akechi lives, Akechi Goro Lives, Kinda, Persona 5 Spoilers, Semi-chat fic? only partially, Tags will be added as we go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-07 02:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17357294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlwyngwastaken/pseuds/owlwyngwastaken
Summary: 'i swear goro akechi's alive, and if he's not, i will punch my own self in the face.' - ryuji sakamoto





	i saw goro akechi at walmart and he looked like shit

**Bastard Kin** Today at 1:45 PM  
_hey you picked up the game yet?_

 **Me** Today at 1:47 PM  
_doing that rn actually  
_ _y_

 **Bastard Kin** Today at 1:50 PM  
_oh i thought you probably forgot soooooooo just wanted to check in before i got here  
_ _i dont rlly want to spend my precious weekend time at the grocery store lmao_

 **Me** Today at 1:53 PM  
_dude im not gonna forget weve been planning this for like so long  
_ _ur just being an asshole, akira_

 **Bastard Kin** Today at 1:55 PM  
_and yet you adore me so so mich  
_ _*much_

 **Me** **** Today at 2:01 PM  
_ugh ig >:/_  
_but like dw abt it ryujis got this on lockdown_    
_oh shit wait do u want me to pick up like snacks or smtn_

**Bastard Kin**  Today at 2:06 PM  
_lockdown, huh? :-?_  
_but ya, can you get like some shrimp chips? that sounds so good rn_  
_like thats calling to me. its calling to my very soul now. js._  
_my hearts saying shrrrrrrriiiiiiimp chiiiiips._

 **Me**  Today at 2:08 PM  
_yeah yeah i get it can do  
_

* * *

Ryuji rolls his eyes, shoving his phone into his hoodie pocket. Dramatic bastard. It's just some effin' shrimp chips. But, hey, whatever. If that's what Akira's craving, he'll deliver. He resituates the few items he has in his hand, tucking them comfortably in the crook of his arm - or as comfortably as he can fit a movie, game, and several floppy floppy issues of some 'zines he wanted. Man, I shoulda grabbed one of those baskets up front, he thinks, body and brain on auto-pilot as he navigates himself to a very familiar aisle.

His brain stays on auto-pilot for a few more seconds as he gets to the snacks aisle, just kind of idling taking in everything else. Like. Where the chips are. Where his favorite flavor of pocky is. How there's some other dude in the aisle, with shaggy hair and the saddest posture he's ever seen (which from Ryuji? is really saying a lot). He's got a basket in hand and all its contents look like the sad reality of a college student with increasingly low standards.

He looks kind of greasy too, like it’s been a few days since he last showered and now he’s marinating in it, and he looks like he forgot how to wash his clothes, and he looks... Vaguely familiar. Ryuji can practically feel his brain booting up as he takes in this weird dude, when said weird dude turns to leave.

Hey, what the hell?

No, actually, really, super seriously here, what the hell?

He nearly loses his grip on the shit in his arms as he stares directly into the eyes of Goro effin' Akechi, whose own eyes widen at the sight of Ryuji. Ryuji's jaw flaps back and forth, back and forth, a whole list of shit he wants to say resting on his tongue, but absolutely no way he can say anything because what the acTUAL HELL??? His brain is racing around and around and- holy effing shit.

Akechi seems to compose himself a lot quicker than Ryuji does, because in an instant, he smiles with the "polite acquaintance from school" smile - all closed mouth and calm and normal, which literally how could he  _do_  that, last time they had seen each other, they were trying to beat the living shit out of the other, last time they saw each other he had tried to kill his best friend, last time they saw each other he had  _died_ , so how does he just decide to effin’ smile like  _that_  makes sense - and turns the other way.

He just effin' leaves.

Like what?

“Hey, wait-“ Ryuji’s voice comes out all weird, all high-pitched and squeaky and… weird. He clears his throat. “Akechi?!”

Ryuji stumbles forward, body lagging behind his racing thoughts, trying to follow Akechi once his brain cells stop scrambling around in his brain, but... he's just gone. Like a ghost. A ghost who reads Weekly Shonen Jump and eats only instant noodle cups. Like a really effed up ghost.

He has to document this, somehow. Like he has to, just so it’s out there and he knows it really happened. So, it’s not some weird fever dream Akechi’s in (because that raises way too many questions.) He grabs his phone with his free hand.

* * *

 

 **Me**  Today at 2:17 PM  
_HEY HOLY SHIT_  
_FASJDSLJKSADLJ_  
_SHIT SHSIT I CAT  
SHIT_

 **Bastard Kin**  Today at 2:19 PM  
_hewwo??? you good???  
_ _did you get fucking lost??? hewwo????_

 **Me**  Today at 2:21 PM  
_nonononoNONOnnono OO no no ok no didnt do that just like_  
_pls listen_  
_and dont call me crazy or some shit bc im effin reelign rn_  
_i just walked into the snack aisle_  
_i saw goro akechi buying like a basket of junk_

* * *

Akira spends a lot of time typing and not typing and typing again after he sends that.

* * *

 

 **Bastard Kin** Today at 2:29 PM  
_thats impossible  
_ _we watched him die, theres no way_

 **Me** Today at 2:31 PM  
_thats what i thought but srsly_  
_it had to be him like_  
_he knew me  
we made eye contact and he knew me its not some lookalike or whatever_

 **Bastard Kin** Today at 2:32 PM  
_it just doesn’t make sense ryuji, like at all_  
_hes been dead for months_  
_im not trying to doubt you or anything its just  
theres no way. theres just no way._

* * *

 

Ryuji groans. Yeah, he knows that there’s literally no way - he remembers what happened. Even if he  _didn’t_  die to the cognitive double, Ryuji knows how that explosion singes your skin. He knows that it’s impossible Akechi’s still kicking it. It’s just not logical. But Ryuji also knows what he just saw and what he just saw was Goro Akechi, alive.

Maybe not healthy, but alive.

He knows that he did.

And besides, after one year of crazy shit - after fighting a literal god - this may not be so crazy, he thinks.

* * *

 

 **Me** Today at 2:35 PM  
_ik man ik but_  
_like i know i saw him  
it just had to be u know_

* * *

 

Radio silence. Yeah. That’s fair. That’s really, really fair.

Ryuji’s pretty bugged out from this, so Akira… man, Akira must be feeling worse, considering…

Yeah, even he didn’t really want to look back at that. He can’t imagine it in Akira’s shoes.

He puts his phone back in his pocket, focusing on the snack aisle. In all the “dead man walking” shock and shit, he didn’t really grab anything. So... He picks up the shrimp chips and some other random snacks he knows they’ll devour within seconds. He shoves the manga and game and movie under his arm (and again, he’s really regretting the no basket decision here) and tries to balance everything else without crushing anything.

He can feel his phone buzzing in his pocket the whole time he’s checking out with the tired looking cashier, and he doesn’t check it until he’s sitting on the subway home. His bags rest against his leg.

* * *

  
  
**Bastard Kin**  Today at 2:50 PM  
_its._  
_its just best to let ghosts rest, ok man?_  
_can we drop this?_  
  
**Me** Today at 3:01 PM  
_yeah course man  
no biggie_

* * *

 

Besides, Ryuji thinks, leaning back. It’s not like this gonna become some kinda problem or whatever.

**Author's Note:**

> let's pray i can finish this   
> also my friend told me the horizontal lines were dramatic gay culture so they stay
> 
> hmu at ommlett on tumblr and owlwyngwastaken on twitter


End file.
